20 Questions with Anna Castle & Giveaway!

I am delighted to share with you my interview with Anna Castle, author of the Francis Bacon Mystery series. Anna holds an eclectic set of degrees: BA in the Classics, MS in Computer Science, and a Ph.D in Linguistics. She has had a correspondingly eclectic series of careers: waitressing, software engineering, documenting an indigenous language of southern Mexico, a short stint as an associate professor, and managing a digital archive. Writing historical fiction combines her lifelong love of stories and learning. She physically resides in Austin, Texas, but mentally counts herself a queen of infinite space.

Thanks to Anna’s generosity, I have a copy of Murder by Misrule, book 1 in the Francis Bacon Mystery series to give away to one lucky commenter!

Conditions of Entry

For your chance to win a copy of Murder by Misrule, you must be subscribed to On the Tudor Trail’s newsletter (if you are not already, sign up on our homepage where it says ‘Free Enewsletter Subscription’).

Then simply leave a comment after this post between now and 25 October 2015. Don’t forget to leave your name and a contact email. Please note that I have comment moderation activated and need to ‘approve’ comments before they appear. There is no need to submit your comment twice.

This giveaway is open internationally.

A winner will be randomly selected and contacted by email shortly after the competition closes. Please ensure you’ve added natalie@onthetudortrail.com to your address book to avoid missing my email.

Good luck!

20 Questions with Anna Castle

When did you realise that you wanted to become a writer?
I first wanted to write novels in college, but didn’t take the goal seriously at that time. It returned with fresh energy in my late 30s, but got pushed back behind my PhD work for another decade.

What sparked your interest in Tudor England?

My first novel was an historical romance set in 1101. I love the 12^th century, but wanted a period with more contemporary literature in a language I could read. So I grazed forward, browsing like mad in Wikipedia – so much fun! When I hit the Elizabethan period and stumbled onto Francis Bacon, I knew I had found my home.

Tell us about your latest book, The Widows Guild.

My gang of characters moves forward one year in this book, to 1588. The most important thing that happened that year was England’s astounding defeat of the Spanish armada in August. Soon after, Francis Bacon was appointed to a commission to interview Catholic prisoners. That’s almost the only thing that is known about him for that year, so I decided to make it the setting for book 3.

It centers around widows for three reasons: my critique group liked the idea of the Andromache Society, which I invented for no reason in book 1; my chaos character, Trumpet, has been wanting to become a widow as soon as possible, since it’s the only way for a woman to have any real independence at that time; and I’m always looking for ways to give women greater roles, for better or worse.

Here’s the short blurb: Someone is turning Catholics into widows, taking advantage of armada fever to mask the crimes. Francis Bacon is charged with identifying the murderer by the Andromache Society, a widows’ guild led by his formidable aunt. He must free his friends from the Tower, track an exotic poison, and untangle multiple crimes to determine if the motive is patriotism, greed, lunacy — or all three.

Share a favourite quote.

My writing philosophy, from J.D. Salinger: “Ask yourself, as a reader, what piece of writing in all the world [you] would most want to read if [you had your] heart’s choice… You just sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself.”

What three new skills would you like to learn?

Fencing, scheduling stuff with HootSuite, and creating spiffy templates in Word.

What are your favourite holiday destinations?

I’m retired, so I never travel on other people’s holidays! I always love going to England to look at more things for my books. I have a longing to go to Prague for some reason and an equal, yet opposite, to go to Puerto Rico.

What is something surprising that you learnt about the Tudors during your research?

That they were hard-working nation builders. Fiction tends to emphasize the conflicts, religious and otherwise, dramatizing the worst moments in people’s lives. But generally over the course of the sixteenth century, the lives of the middling sort improved by all measures: health, birth rates, material prosperity, literacy, and their own sense of increasing well-being.

Do you use social media?

Oh, yeah. Mainly Facebook, which is my mini-break all through the day and the place I connect with my whole writing tribe: readers, fellow authors, mentors…

Describe a day in your life when you are writing. Do you follow any rituals?

I don’t do rituals in the incantatory sense… I do have fairly regular habits. I like to get up and play solitaire while ingesting that first life-giving cup of coffee. Then, if I’m in a first draft phase, I start with some pre-writing, studying the scene notes for today’s scene. Then I walk the dog, who is under foot until that great event takes place, and ponder my scene. Then I settle down and write until I do my 2000 words. Usually I get there by lunch time, sometimes a little after. I can’t do creative thinking in the afternoon. Then I go to the gym or out for a bike ride, or maybe run some errands. Then an hour of business – communications, social media, whatever’s on the agenda. And that’s a full day of work.

Other phases are revision and marketing, which allow more flexibility and distractions. I can format manuscripts, enter metadata hither and yon, write blog posts, schedule marketing steps, and answer mail any time of day. I can only produce new words of fiction in the morning.

What women in history do you most admire?

Queen Elizabeth I is at the top of the list. She was a truly great monarch.

Lady Elizabeth Russell, Francis Bacon’s aunt. Another formidable woman!

Eleanor of Aquitaine, another woman who owned her own destiny.

What does your writing space look like?

I love my study. It’s about 12 feet square with big windows facing the native landscape in my back yard. When I open the windows, I can listen to bird song as I write. I have a good big desk with a table at the side for the printer. I face into the room, with a wall of bookshelves at my back. On the opposite wall, there’s a whiteboard with notes and a bulletin board with pictures of my people. Yes, I look at Francis Bacon all day long :-). On the other wall is another bulletin board marked into three bands; that’s my beat board, for plotting. I use different colored sticky notes for each POV character.

Everything I need within reach! And a rug for the faithful Labrador.

What motivates you?

I love writing. I would rather do this than anything else. I miss my characters palpably when I’m not writing about them and scenes are constantly popping into my head, needing to get written down somehow. I’m also learning that it’s gratifying, if a little strange, to have readers who like my work. I’ve had several engaging careers, but being self-publishing novelist is far the best of them all.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

People in the writing world mostly meet me at conferences, so they think I’m a bubbly extrovert. I’m not, but I can impersonate one for a couple of days. I need at least two weeks afterwards with no social interaction whatsoever to recover!

Do you have a favourite book?

The Lord of the Rings. I read it whenever I feel the urge, which is about every other year, starting in the sixth grade. Now I also have to watch the movies.

Earliest childhood memory.

I remember standing on the brink of the Grand Canyon in my new red cowboy boots, clutching my grandfather’s hand. Must have been three-ish?

What characteristic do you admire most in others?

Common courtesy. (Thus proving I have achieved middle age.)

Name five books you’d like to read this year.

A Cup of News by Charles Nichol (biography of Thomas Nashe).

The Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brian.

Mostly, I’m working my way through the collected works of the Historical Fiction Authors Cooperative, reading M. Louisa Locke, Libbie Hawker, M. Ruth Myers, Libi Astaire, Judith Starkson, Suzanne Tyrpak… These folks are great!

Share something great about your hometown.

The Loud Music Capitol of the World? Actually, the best thing about Austin, Texas is the progressive city services: water & waste management, electricity, etc. Our power company, publicly owned, plants trees to make things cooler twenty years from now. Essential for a quality life, but seldom mentioned.

What do you like to do outside of writing?

I’m an Urban Forest Steward, so I work with TreeFolks to plant trees and spread mulch all over the Austin metro area. I love hiking, cycling, roaming around the Hill Country, travel. And then there’s the ever-delightful knitting in front of the Netflix-fueled TV.

Do you believe in past lives?

Nope.